Ross County need to get better at batting, says Chris Blake
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Ross County Cricket Club can have no excuses for a poor opening day performance against Northern Counties, according to Chris Blake.
Ross County’s opening batsman, was the first wicket to fall at Northern Meeting Park last Saturday as he departed for a duck.
Six of his teammates would also return to the pavilion without scoring, and the Castle Leod outfit’s first innings total of 102 was always unlikely to be enough for victory.
Duncan Scott (21), Regan Francis (34 not out) and skipper Graeme Carney (33) were the only decent County scores, but early wickets in the Northern Counties’ innings gave them a chance.
Opening bowlers Paul Moxon and Renato Belli took three between them, but by the time Nadia Tolliday and Steve Embelton dismissed Counties’ biggest hitters the result was beyond doubt.
“We made it difficult for them, but ultimately we were about 50 runs short,” Blake reasoned.
“We bowled okay, but we didn’t bat well enough to win that game.
“We took all our catches, but the batting let us down, so we need to get into the nets and practice harder and work on our defence. We need to cover our wickets and be harder to get out.”
Cricket is slightly different to other sports in that they have been able to train as normal in recent months as a non-contact sport.
So, despite it being County’s first league game in nearly two years, Blake wanted to hit the ground running, and was disappointed they could not do better.
“It was the first game of the season, but it’s a very short season this year,” he said. “There are only five teams in the league, so you’ve got to be red hot from the get go.
“There are no excuses, there are no warm-up games in the league this year.”
A different focus awaits County this weekend, as they host their Senior T20 Cup group in Strathpeffer.
Northern Counties and Nairn County will be making the trip to Castle Leod, while the reserves travel to face Skye and Lochalsh and Fort Augustus in their equivalent.
“You’ve got to switch on, we’ll have a different mindset for that,” Blake insisted.
“It will be back at our place with a short boundary and an artificial wicket, so there should be lots of runs.
“T20 is always exciting, there will be lots of runs and lots of wickets, so it should be a good day.”
